ZackGrooves Learns Animals As Leaders As Fast As Possible

[@DrumeoOfficial]

Want to try this for yourself? You can play along with this and many other Animals As Leaders songs inside Drumeo. Click on the link to get started: www.drumeo.com/trial.

[@NikkLiberos]

I have to say, the tone of those drums is out of this world. This day and age, the production level at Drumeo is through the roof.

[@lm8404]

I was just going to say, I’ve heard some good drums, but his kit is something special… Zack went to the factory and had them custom built… They sound so good..

[@WD.909]

Lol I remember getting into drums back in the early 2010s and Drumeo’s production SUCKED

[@diegopayan1909]

It's also Zack's technique!

[@NikkLiberos]

@@diegopayan1909 100%. Tone is achieved by the drum, the drummer, the tech and the mixer.

[@Keessette]

Not me listening on phone speakers

[@drumscribe]

Animals as Leaders is the Dark Souls level of difficulty for this challenge 😂

[@robbledot7290]

Praise the sun

[@GhANeC]

And it’s by far one of their most accessible songs hehe

[@scottwelfare9267]

Ya that's why they picked their easiest song

[@ivankyselov2030]

@@scottwelfare9267 Their easiest song should be either gordian naught or woven web...

[@drumscribe]

@@GhANeC I say their song ‘Micro-Aggressions’ for a country drummer next

[@RAUFFUS_0]

WHERE IS MATT GARTSKA'S RETURN TO DRUMEO??? BRING THAT MAN RIGHT NOW!

[@alexfanning5857]

I"VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOREVER

[@oceanwoe]

It is time! (And Matt Garstka obviously controls time, sooo😁)

[@dilloncartier]

🙏

[@samirgolchha]

and make him learn some nickelback

[@redlightclinicdrummer]

Buy his lessons

[@ZackGrooves]

This was disrespectful >:(

[@Stixxyyyy]

Found you lmao

[@domovoi_0]

Nice forearms brother. Don't forget em wrist curls! Love and blessings.

[@musicchaos4938]

Man that was sick!🔥 Really challenging song but you got a good take🫠🫠 love It, I really enjoy every parte, keep going❤

[@CapnFlags]

YOU’RE a towel!

[@thehollyballs]

Excellent try bro, better than a scrub could do 😂

[@ChintzMusic]

That's how close he got after only an hour?? God DAMN son!

[@danielmantell3084]

Yea, that a huge W. He had it mostly just needed to tighten it up. Excellent job. Was especially fun watching him fight his instincts while playing it.

[@AzureTears]

to be fair, this is by far one of the easier AAL songs, both on the drums and the guitar. Something like Microagressions or Ka$cade would have genuinely been impossible. Mad props though, one hour is still impressive, not like PE is an easy song compared to non-AAL tracks lmao

[@rbae]

​​@@AzureTearstbf the impressive part is how tight he got it relative to the difficulty of the music in an hour for the entire song. It's not technically as bad, but his level of learning and then executing is different compared to most

[@TwoGunToast]

He's also mainly a jazz drummer I'm pretty sure but has been branching out to learn more stuff like playing a double pedal etc. His YT channel is pretty good.

[@djTNELS]

@@AzureTears I would say anything from their self titled album is easiest to play, partly because it was Misha and Tosin who did most of the drum writing and programming.

[@eddiesky780]

guy in the studio booth " Don´t you dare to apologize for that" Could not agree more, absolutely insane to learn this much of such hard song to play. Love you ZACK!

[@WUJ1101]

Give Zack a day or 2 max and he can totally nail this track, including adding his own touch on several sections. Guy's a beast in addition to him and Matt's style not being so different when it comes to more intricate grooves and drum patterns.

[@The0nlyy]

Exactly. This is the closest I’ve seen to somebody not completing the challenge on Drumeo. It’s a hard ass song and you can tell he didn’t have enough time to do it justice. Absolutely fantastic attempt though.

[@NicoDoesLP]

Yeah a lot of AAL songs are more jazz oriented than metal. He's not out of his element here, it's just a hard track

[@WUJ1101]

@@NicoDoesLP Totally, you could actually get a hint of what he could've done with more time towards the middle of the last take when he basically started improvising over the song, love it.

[@dinospumoni5611]

@@NicoDoesLPit's not even necessarily that challenging of a track, it's just that there's a bunch of arbitrary changes so you basically have to memorize it or be really good at sight reading

[@chilledgrish7169]

Couldn’t we all?

[@hobojoe9717]

Brandon is such a sadist 😂 This is the cruelest one of these challenges yet! Hats off to Zack for taking it on!

[@CooperAATE]

Making poor Santantonio play Mastodon was pretty rude, too lol

[@georgejerry1545]

At least it wasn’t The Wicked Web or Kascade or CAFO or something like that 😂

[@traixxe8649]

@@georgejerry1545 ahem... WOVEN

[@bg357wg]

@@georgejerry1545Lol imagine forcing someone to learn Monomyth here 😂

[@stone-snare]

@@bg357wg i don't think monomyth is even possible for anyone to come close to playing in one sitting. it would be funny though to see their reaction to having to play it.

[@seanraf2554]

Now that he has been mentioned, please bring Matt Garstka back on and make him do one of these as well. Mad props to ZackGrooves.

[@ericibaugh8231]

STRONGLY AGREE!!!!!!!

[@Findrin]

Get Matt on and ask him to do a zacgrooves song 🤣

[@antonribkin5319]

Agreed, I think Matt should try to play something from Zack 😀

[@finnmacdiarmid3250]

@@antonribkin5319careful crossing the streams

[@jonathankey6444]

Idk if there’s anything Matt won’t absolutely master in 20 seconds lol

[@DwayneCreates]

There are prog and metal drummers out there at the same level who wouldn't come anywhere near close to this level, especially in one hour. This just goes to show how good Zach is as a drummer. Incredible.

[@spoooky_matt]

Mike Portnoy: Plays Nickelback. ZackGrooves: Plays THIS!

[@clydekaila123]

Ikr 😂

[@fl00d69]

Portnoy is overrated. Gartska would break that phony in twain.

[@BrandonToews]

Just wait, there’s more for Mike 😂

[@fl00d69]

@@BrandonToews I feel sorry for him.

[@spoooky_matt]

@@BrandonToews Happy to hear that! Mike is by far my favorite drummer. So glad you got him on Drumeo!

[@doemecom]

Zack really deserves the Grooves in his name, holy smokes those „simplistic“ hi-hat snare ghost notes patterns are so awesome

[@stanislawrybinski]

The Joy of Motion is probably my favourite AAL album, this tune slaps, and Zack delivered all the good stuff ooh baby

[@NaturalScienceRushTribute]

I agree trust whole album is amazing top to bottom.

[@VinceViglione]

What?!? This is SUCH a sick combo!! My mind is blown. Thank you guys for leaning into more virtuosity in the music. It’s way more interesting with these drummers that are absolute monsters playing music made by other monsters. 🤯

[@infinite7501]

Holy crap. He did pretty damn good for one hour. That left hand part alone is brutal to learn.. Nice job!

[@danianitellidrums]

Much respect to this guy! He is a beast. Animals is a hard to cover.

[@alexpaddock1025]

ZackGrooves is an absolute beast. Loved some of his takes on this. Also would absolutely love to see JD Beck on Drumeo!

[@TheRaveNRolla]

First animals as leaders Song i ever heard. Instantly fell in love and saw them live last year ❤ Amazing band!

[@diegopeart]

He did so well! for someone who said he wasn't gonna sight read all that, he paid a lot of attention to the grid and got the groove right where it needed to be. well done!

[@rmcruzo]

This series of getting drummers to learn songs that they are not used to was the best idea ever. Zack did an amazing job! (I need to practice more xD)

[@eduardolorandi3628]

The more chill section at 7:36 is phenomenal!

[@Ph4nt4sm4ge]

It sounds so good it's insane

[@paradise_valley]

Some of the highlights for sure. Same goes for the neoclassical stuff in Brain Dance too.

[@t.jakstadt2690]

I think that more of his jazz element right there where he could play more around the base groove.

[@theguramiii]

"My favorite part---seven meaures of rest!" 😂 I feel you, Zack, I feel you. Nevertheless, this was sooooo good!! ❤

[@Arkansya]

even rest is not straight hahaha. (7 measures wtf)

[@SIGMARE]

For a predominantly Jazz drummer he did an awesome job. It’s cool to see musicians step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves in different genres. Well done Zack

[@Typerhaze]

Garstka is my favorite drummer of all time and ive been listening to animals for over a decade... i still have trouble with this song... for Zack to do this in just about an hour?!? absolutely insane! what a god

[@LeYoIdBeHe]

I know right, it took me 1 month to read the first 2 minutes of cosmic liberty. 10 months to practice it up to 90% speed and make a cover over. Even then I still had 2 or 3 mistakes matt garstka is crazy I still don't understand how he does it.

[@GoodBuddyGolfGuy]

Drumeo and ZackGrooves, a match made in KZbin music heaven. Going to see Everything Yes in Philly next month! #EverythingYes #chops #keepinitsaxy

[@123oner2]

Hearing him lock in and nail parts is so cool, you can see his satisfaction. Legend

[@alexpaddock1025]

damn Drumeo have been knocking it out of the park lately with their vids - so many of my favourite drummers playing great songs!

[@neferpitou1795]

TBH, this was absolutely amazing! Zack did it very well, I mean, that 7/11 groove reading the drum chart is out of this world!

[@VladShpiro]

Drumeo: We have notation for you… Zack: Ain’t nobody got time for that!

[@Mayfired]

ZackGrooves is literally someone I would love to hang out with. Super cool, laid back, and funny dude. He's an amazing player, too!

[@wongsanggar]

Congrats for Zack, you deserve this recognition! Thanks for Drumeo to invite him

[@thedallas7293]

Dude Zach went so hard on this for real super mad respect this is not an easy track

[@eshanthaperera]

Guys bring in Aric Improta please! He's one of the most creative drummers out there. It would be phenomenal to see his take on your challenges!

[@robbledot7290]

overrated

[@eshanthaperera]

@@robbledot7290 okay, random pleb on KZbin. Your opinion is invalid. 😂

[@thewhorocks515]

Yes, Aric would be an amazing guest to have on!

[@CooperDrums]

Yes that would so sick!

[@DenEz_TV]

MAISON GUIDRY!

[@Metaljaybird007]

Loved. "My mom would be disappointed." Shout out to moms. This is challenging to any musician. Most respect 🙃👊🤘🤘🙏

[@MattCourtoisAnim]

That snare is absolute madness. Ridiculous. Thanks a million for the quality of your videos guys

[@OurSoloSystem]

Zack is awesome and inspiring!!!!! @drumeo you should surprise the drummer by bringing in the actual band (minus the drummer of course) for the final take!

[@benjohnson6248]

ZackGrooves you're a beast man - incredible work

[@dalatina911]

I love this guy! His personality and skill is off the charts! You did an amazing job sir holy crap!

[@ChainWhippin]

Fun video! I’d like to see someone tackle Dillinger Escape Plan. And no softball songs like Milk Lizard. Try Endless Endings or Hollywood Squares or something in that style. Love your vids Drumeo!

[@Higor_da_costa_coelho]

UP 🙌

[@mexicanmaggot666]

We Are The Storm!!

[@inhohvh7850]

big ups

[@Lloyd2VD]

oh yes please

[@leftynope6512]

They already had billy rymer on a few years ago

[@datalondojones7969]

Considering Zack´s style Animals as Leaders should certainly feel like home to him! Good Job

[@brycewalburn3926]

Zack's not exactly a progressive metal drummer, though

[@zephryngower1377]

I would love to see Matt and Zack together in a video, would be such an incredible collab. Honestly just them sitting and talking drums and their fav rudiments and stuff. would be an epic conversation to watch. Incredibly well done ZackGrooves for playing an AAL song in passably in un under an hour and a half. insane,

[@banqueproductions2763]

I love the fact that Drumeo decided to incorporate the way Zack edits his videos with all the wild stuff he says and the jumpscares 😂😂😂👌🏾👌🏾🔥🔥🔥

[@obliviontimes]

This might be one of the best drummers to step foot on drumeo

[@mastertonberry9224]

Yessssss make Zacky sweat!! I love seeing him get deeper into prog metal and get closer to the where the line between prog & fusion blurs. Would love to see him play to Nova Collective or Plini!

[@FatherSwole]

Wow, all that progress in a single hour? Zack you're way too hard on yourself. That was sick!

[@SethDrums]

This song haunts me in my sleep 😂

[@Johnny_Lydon]

That kit and those cymbals with that mixing sounds so fire 🔥

[@paultergeist2702]

Matt makes it look so easy that I can't believe a drummer like Zack can't play it perfectly

[@TayPlaysDrums]

ZACK WE ALREADY KNOW YOU’RE GONNA DO THIS AGAIN AND GO CRAZY!!! CANT WAIT

[@scosstard3542]

This is phenomenal from Zack to learn and nail the song so quickly :o And the quality of videos in Drumeo has been off the charts recently. I am not even a drummer but I find the content so entertaining and captivating. Would love to see Baard Kolstad, Billy Rymer or some extreme Metal Drummers (Jamie St Merat, Kevin Paradis, Ken Bedene) on the channel. Or having pop drummers learn Extreme Metal :P Keep up the incredible work!!!

[@Lloocii]

Those ghosts on the snare. Oof, Im not a drummer but id image that stuffs hard af to pick up and execute.

[@hjge1012]

Oh boy. I want to see this one. You're giving this guy a real challenge.

[@SamuelMcCunemusic]

dang man... killer work for an hour bro! 🙌👏

[@JohnLemieux]

7:07 you nailed this section

[@CyPheR_N]

You’re annoying😂😂

[@chrisjayne4746]

This is one of my favourites to date. Great song choice, great drum track and genuinely awe inspiring effort from the drummer

[@kvngafrica]

dude zack’s chops are always insane. bring him back more 👏🏼

[@Swollen_Goat]

I think it's now time to get Matt G back on here to learn something! Also, I love Zack being on here. Dude is amazing at drums and so funny.

[@madagreement]

Thank you for taking the challenge for us LMFAO I know I would shit my pants if someone asked me to try to cover this !

[@FullMetalLuffy]

Matt Gartska is the GOAT - and big up ZackGrooves, loved hearing you play alongside

[@pandadoublexl]

This man is not human 🔥

[@jordanc377]

Most are humbled when playing anything matt gartska. 🔥 Great attempt Zach!!

[@Neorigg]

Zack did very good!! well done!

[@VersionOneUK]

Zacks the MAN for this job... Once he's locked in, he's IN

[@pauldm5222]

Zack as usual, was sick af. followed him since I watched his Architects work. 🔥

[@tommyg121]

Drumeo is treating Zach like the teacher that finds out the class clown is actually smart and is challenging him and holding him accountable now.

[@rowegardner9673]

Lol basically GoodWill Hunting: Drumeo edition

[@eddiegdrums1646]

Honestly, dude killed it- especially for only having an hour to learn it.

[@amirm3326]

the way Zack uses kick in his phrases makes the groove so funky. a true master crafted piece right there

[@StelaPop]

That was INCREDIBLE learning that song in an hour worth of practice. Well done!!!

[@evanext802]

I don't know much about Dixon drums, but those look and sound amazing!!

[@breadnaut3087]

This was a master class. Loved every minute.

[@SantaCarlaDrums]

I love this format, it’s so cool to see how these amazing players are taken out of their comfort zone. No doubt Zack did an amazing job here, but it’s interesting to see the that he’s definitely uncomfortable with some sections, and more relaxed in others. The look of sheer joy in his face when he nails that fill out of the breakdown into the final section is like a mid of relief and surprise and ‘that was fuckin’ dope, yo!” Goes to show that no matter what level you’re at, there’s always another level beyond. That should be inspo for all of us.

[@84jdgregory]

That drum set looks sick! I've never heard of ZackGrooves but damn...he's a champ for taking this on. Phenomenal musician!

[@tmrogers87]

This is the content I crave. Zack is a real sport!

[@KBStickEm]

I was a fan of Matt Garstka before AAL. Back in the Berklee shed sessions days. When he was in that band with his Dad. Shout-out to Navene Koperweis who was their OD and he's a bad dude!

[@zzzzzz69]

How did Matt come up and get discovered by AAL, what a destiny meeting

[@benjaminpikoikj7090]

Ooft yeah

[@Jordarr8994]

They saw his videos with Jo Sallins and invited him to audition@@zzzzzz69

[@AzureTears]

@@zzzzzz69 he basically found out about AAL and thought it would be the perfect band for him, then they met and things happened and whaddya know, he's legit the best drummer they could ask for and has a lot of chemistry with Tosin's writing style

[@zzzzzz69]

@@AzureTears I wonder what Matt was playing before that he felt affinity with AAL

[@bharathondrums]

Zack's ability to play the main groove by listening to the guitar riff and not the drums goes to show how good his ears are!

[@vkotis]

I wouldn’t do any better. Zack and Matt are two absolute beasts!

[@MediumQuality]

I'm extremely impressed by what he managed to do with this song in 1 hour. I've been an AaL fan for years, and there are parts of so many of their songs that become rhythmically incomprehensible to mortals like us.

[@appleZac]

nothing here is within my reach.... but here for Zack. what a video. Kudos all involved. production of those drums is ace

[@AllOneVoice]

I want to see garstka do all these things series, learn someone else's song, compose to an unfamiliar song, etc etc. So dope. This was crazzzy Zack

[@FluffMuffTater]

"If you can sing you can play it" my freshman year HS drum instructor taught us that lol

[@sethsparico1191]

At least an ad didn't pop up right before the bass drop. Killer job!

[@carsound]

Thank you for making me discover new stuff... this is sick!

[@nathanbohanon5416]

So FREAKING GOOD!!! I loved near the end where you went a slightly different fill than the original; it sounded so good

[@amanjoshua994]

Been waiting for this for monthsss!!! 🔥🔥

[@swe11s]

What a mad compliment for Zack to be thrown this batsh*t crazy track to learn. They knew you could get most of the way there where most others would have just surrendered! Well done, man

[@joshbowling3736]

‘Next step is to play along with the track as much as possible cause you already know I ain’t reading all that’ This guy gets it!!! My kind of learning 😭😂

[@Mozric]

I saw animals as leaders exactly 10 years ago tomorrow, probably still the best musicians I've seen. Drumeo are cruel bastards and I'm all here for it.

[@Koopaburra]

Ya'll remember when Luke Holland absolutely crushed this drum cover like a decade ago?! I can only imagine how long he had to practice this song to nail it like he did. Big props to ZackGrooves for getting this far in just 1 hour!!

[@spinfected]

Maximum respect! What a pro....and what a drumkit!!

[@thecasiorobinson]

The funny part is that this is probably the easist AAL song they could have given him

[@fire4wd73]

I really love Zac. such a cool guy and I really love his taste in drum. hope he'lle be back for another "for the first time" series

[@gracecyoung]

Just adding to the sentiment. This is such an insanely difficult track, and where he gets to after 1 hour… OMG!!! Well done Zack. If he has been ‘shedding, I’d love to see a follow up to where he got to with this track.

[@nolainnogain]

The way he played it was actually sick!

[@xdoctorblindx]

He's the real deal. This was the hardest task they've had anyone do on Drumeo so far.

[@jackLoveX]

“My favorite part” *proceeds to fucking rip*

[@VishnuRajeevan]

AAL on here and Pianote 👏🏾 Zack killed this, awesome job. Hoping Night Verses / Aric get some love here soon

[@pres4515]

YES WE NEED ARIC IMPROTA IN HERE

[@Lloocii]

The best drummer alive.

[@robbledot7290]

overrated af

[@Lloocii]

@@robbledot7290 what you really mean is you've never actually dove into his works. Cool story.

[@TheTpointer]

Zack you are a Maschine.

[@TheOddKris]

Yoo the added timer is really a nice touch! Looking forward to Zack's take! AAL is a tough one

[@AdevebA]

It's good to see there's still utility to the drumeo features if you're a "yeah, I'm not reading all that" type of player. As for Zach, you can tell in the final take when he when he started to feel it vs. count it. Super cool.